Number Thirteen IV
by Arc Tachyon
Summary: Continuing on from the original Number Thirteen trilogy is the story of Zak and Angel. New characters to meet, new decks to face and a whole new adventure await the duo as this tale is about to unfold...
1. The Fifth Deck

A strong breeze gripped the duel arena while the late afternoon sun gave off a warm red light. Though, while not the optimal conditions for a duel, it was almost over. The trees surrounding the outdoor duel fields were covered in orange red leaves that signified the soon to come winter as did the few low grey clouds that dotted the sky. The scenery was one of peace and completely opposed the intensity of the duel that was taking place in its midst. As if to thwart the peace of the surroundings, the Augmented Reality vision on both duelists D-Gazers displayed it only in ruins. Trees were split in half and thrown all over the place and the apartment complex that extended in front of the duel arena was nothing more than rubble and debris.

Amongst the songs of birds and insects the heavy breathing of both duelists was most certainly apparent. They'd been at it for hours – both ferociously duelling one another time and again as if it was some kind of ritual. Though, now, the relief of one of them was soon to be at hand as even the insects could sense the bad situation he'd managed to get himself into. Beads of sweat dripped from his brow as he tried to focus on his opponent who, too, was panting heavily from the day's efforts. With only 600 Life Points and no hand; there wasn't much he could do. This fact was made more apparent as his lone monster was about to be attacked by his opponent's ace.

Unlike himself: his monster stood proud as ever against the orange sky and broken backdrop. It always had and, even when faced against such an opponent as it was, it wouldn't back down. No, that was the duelist's job; but even the lowest of duelists knew there was no honour in backing down. Zak, for one, was most certainly not a low duelist and he would see this duel to the end regardless of how it ended. He looked again at his monster – Bujin Yamato – and wondered if it knew by now that it was about to be destroyed by his opponent for the umpteenth time that day. Zak knew that its seemingly mere 1800 Attack Points weren't nearly enough to shield him from the 2700 that were about to close the curtains once again.

His tired eyes closed as he awaited the familiar sound of his Life Points hitting zero. But, in its place, was another familiar sound. This sound wasn't one caused by the Augmented Reality, however, as it came from within Zak's own soul. By now Zak had gotten used to it after hearing it for so long; though it still made him shiver to hear Number Zero's voice.

"Losing again, Zak?" The voice was as cold and heartless as the deepest galaxy, "Typical."

Typical. The word resounded through Zak's mind in a meaningless echo. It, itself, was nothing short of typical. Typical for Number Zero to pop up in the midst of a losing duel and typical for it to insult Zak's skills and resolve. And, if only to make matters worse, it was also typical for Zero to try and possess Zak every chance it got. Typical to be typical.

"It doesn't seem you have a way out of this loss," Zero laughed coolly, "There would be no point in taking over."

Zak sighed and watched on as the shining shockwave of his opponent's attack encapsulated Bujin Yamato – eradicating not only it – but the rest of Zak's few Life Points. Zero wasn't wrong; as always. The shockwave destroyed the remaining stable ground that Zak's feet had been planted causing him to be blasted back into a few bushes which had done nothing but endure Zak's defeats time and again. Zak's failure once again signified the removal of the Augmented Reality that gripped the arena: repairing itself in the blink of an eye. The bushes that Zak now lay in, however, weren't given such a benefit.

[Zak: 0]

[Angel Wins!]

"That's the fourth loss in a row, sweetie," Angel yelled from across the battlefield before striding over to Zak. She stretched out her arm to her opponent and helped him to his feet. "You sure the Bujin archetype is good for you?"

Zak shook his head, looked at his Duel Disk and pulled the deck from its slot. He shuffled through the 40 cards worth of War Gods, armoured animals and spell & trap support.

"I should have sent Bujingi Sinyou through Yamato's effect last turn," Zak eventually replied, "I need to read my opponent better and play against them rather than just play the deck."

"That deck happens to be the fifth one you've tried since Barian. You haven't been able to settle on one since, well, you know…"

He knew. Angel was referring to the loss of their favourite cards: Darkshine Dragon and Goddess of Light. Being ex-Numbers hadn't exactly allowed them to last all too long since having their powers removed. One day they'd just faded into nothing but Blank cards, taking the hearts of their owners with them. To Zak, not having Darkshine Dragon was nothing short of feeling empty as a Duelist, and he was certain Angel felt the same about her Goddess of Light. But, while she had been able to move on and continue playing her Agent deck – Zak had moved from deck to deck to try and fill his void. Gadget, Thunder, Dino-Rabbit and even Evilswarm had all been at a loss. He'd learned their styles and played them a few times. None, however, could fill the void his Darkshine Dragon had left. Now he was trying the Bujin deck and hoping for a change in that pattern.

'It's okay," Zak smiled, "I want to continue with this one. It's not like the others. They all focused too heavily on Xyz Summoning whereas this prides just… protecting the King. Less Xyz focus is probably better for me. One more round?"

Angel gave a small groan, "My god, Zakky, you're never satisfied are you? Fine, one more. Then we're showering and going out to dinner like we agreed."

She winked at him before heading back toward the other end of the duel arena. Zak could do nothing but grin at his girlfriend's back. Dueling then dinner? She knew him too well. The Augmented Reality vision restarted as the sun began to set. Send Sinyou, Zak thought, Sinyou is Honest don't forget.

"The offer to use my deck still stands," Zero's voice rang through his head, which Zak ignored. Though he didn't know what Zero's deck actually was – Zak wasn't about to let the Dark God of all Numbers have any sway over him. Being stuck within his soul was enough.

The duel raged on for a solid half hour – twice as long as the four duels before it. Zak kept his mind going while playing as he concentrated on his and Angel's card interactions. Bujingi Turtle negates targeting and Bujingi Hare negates destruction. Small reminders to make sure he knew what he was doing. Okay, use Bujingi Crane when Master Hyperion attacks to beat it. Search Bujincarnation off Bujin Mikazuchi at End Phase and save it for later.

Finally it came down to Angel residing on her Ancient Sacred Wyvern, one set card and 1200 LP and Zak with only 300 LP and one card in hand. Due to its own effect Ancient Sacred Wyvern stood at a proud 3000 ATK - which would surely run through Zak's currently empty field directly into his LP. It was Zak's Main Phase now and, after a brief double check of the card in his hand, he paused and tried to calculate the correct combo to create a clear-cut victory.

"Start by activating Bujincarnation…" Came Zero's sarcasm, "Remind me. Who beat me all those months ago? You are clearly not him." Zak ignored the voice.

"I activate Bujincarnation!" He then shouted out, "I get to Special Summon a Bujin monster from both my Graveyard and Banished Zone; however I can't use them for an Xyz Summon unless it's that of a Beast, Beast-Warrior or Winged-Beast type monster. I summon Bujin Yamato from my Graveyard and Bujingi Turtle from my Banished Zone!"

"And do what with them then? Get over Wyvern? Last I checked you need Bujingi Crane in hand to do that! But I helped you build that deck and I know the only two you use are in your Graveyard!" Came Angel's banter from across the slowly darkening battlefield, "Hey! Why are you smiling like that?!"

Zak's grin grew as he raised his arm, "Crane is only one possible way to win within the Bujin archetype – but I'll beat you with another!"

"Yeah yeah, sweetie. You said that every other duel and looked how that turned out. Just admit defeat so we can go out-"

"I overlay Level 4 Bujin Yamato and Bujingi Turtle!" Zak interrupted, not willing to let Angel act high and mighty another second, "Descend before us! The Emperor of Storms and first of the kings: Bujintei Susanowo!"

[Bujintei Susanowo/ Rank 4]

[2400 ATK/ 1600 DEF]

[LIGHT/ Beast-Warrior]


	2. The Anniversary

Bujintei Susanowo's foreboding figure crashed into the ground behind Zak, towering over him while holding its two sharp blades at the ready by its sides. Sparks and small streams of lightning radiated off the bright red-orange armour – lighting up the duel arena. The two shining Overlay Units swirled about its burning wings and returned full circle around its whole figure. Its eyes burned with a fierce energy as they glared across the darkening field. Susanowo's presence screamed power and, for a fleeting moment, Zak remembered what it was like having Darkshine Dragon by his side once more. But that feeling was about to be pushed aside in favour of Zak's clear view of his first victory in a long while.

"I detach the Bujingi Turtle as an Overlay Unit from Bujintei Suanowo," Zak shouted, as Susanowo sliced one of the orbs of light with one of its blades, "Now I can-"

"Use Susie's effect?" Angel cut through, "And search for a card to win? Not likely! I trigger my trap card: Breakthrough Skill! I'm sure you know what this does by now, sweetie. If you need a reminder though: Susie's effect is going to be negated. Shame."

Zak thought for a moment then continued, "I chain on the newly detached Bujingi Turtle in the Graveyard! When you target a Beast-Warrior Bujin monster I control with a card effect – I can banish this card from the Grave and negate it!"

A cloudy purple portal opened up in front of Bujintei Susanowo from which Bujingi Turtle jumped out of – taking the bolt fired off from Angel's Breakthrough Skill full force. Upon dissipating the attempted effect negation Bujingi Turtle faded from the game; its piece in the puzzle now fulfilled. Since Bujintei Susanowo's effect could now be carried out – it aimed its blade at Zak's Deck, which subsequently lit up with an almost electrical aura. It too sensed that the end of the duel was nigh.

"Bujintei Susanowo allows me to target a Bujin monster in my deck," Zak began to calmly explain, "And, with that monster, I can either add it to my hand or send it to the Graveyard."

"Good work on escaping my trap, Zakky," Angel replied, "But, if I'm not mistaken, you still can't get over Ancient Sacred Wyvern without Crane… which you don't have."

"Unfortunately you're mistaken, sweetie," Zak said, imitating his girlfriend's favourite nickname, "I send the Bujingi Sinyou in my deck to the Graveyard. And now my Storm Emperor! Attack her Ancient Sacred Wyvern!"

"2400 versus 3000? It'd have been way easier to just concede rather than go out with a bang."

"Concede? Where's the fun in that? I'm going to win!"

"Are you now? With what? Sinyou?"

"Exactly that!" Zak roared, "During battle with a Beast-Warrior Bujin monster: I can banish Bujingi Sinyou from my Graveyard to have my monster gain the attack of whatever it's battling. The only downside is you'll only take half battle damage; but that's exactly enough to drop you to zero!"

Bujingi Sinyou, which resembled a purplish glowing unicorn-like creature with a sword for a face, jumped out from another Graveyard portal before transforming into a huge glowing broadsword. Bujintei Susanowo grabbed the newly forged weapon as its Attack Points rose to 5400 and, in one fell strike, slashed the blade through Ancient Sacred Wyvern and its 3000 Attack. A pained roar escaped the fallen dragon before the shockwave from the attack hurled its way at Angel. She was knocked off her feet slightly; her Life Points dropped to nothing as Zak had said.

[Angel: 0]

[Zak Wins!]

"You took too long," Zero's praise echoed, but Zak ignored it.

The Augmented Reality faded as he walked over to where Angel was calmly sitting. He held out his arm, which she took and he pulled her to her feet. At once she embraced him.

"You finally did it, sweetie!" Angel exclaimed, "You beat the amazing me in a duel with a new deck."

Zak raised his eyebrow at her as she half-pulled away from the embrace. Angel giggled and continued, "Want to keep this deck then?"

"Yeah, I think I will," Zak smiled, "Susanowo and the other Emperors are pretty fun to play. Thank you for helping me with it."

"You can thank me by showering and paying the dinner bill when we go out," Angel winked, "Come onnnnn, I'm hungryyyy."

Zak gave her a small kiss before releasing his arms from around her before the duo headed indoors to Angel's apartment. They'd lived together since their victory over Number Zero only a few months ago. That event had changed the world for them and for everyone in Heartland. Though most citizens were all too well aware of the Barian Invasion which had been thwarted by the heroes Yuma Tsukumo, his partner Astral and Kite Tenjo the ex-Number Hunter – next to none were aware of the second, more silent, war that had taken place at the same time. The war of two Number Hunters against the Dark God of Numbers – Number Zero, who had sought to create an army of dark duelists.

Those two Hunters were none other than Zak and Angel who had, together, taken down the dark overlord with their Number ace cards and prevented Zero's machinations from coming to light. The cost was that now Number Zero itself was housed within Zak's soul and could, on occasion, muster the power to control him. Such occurrences were now swiftly dealt with by Angel or, rarely, Kite if Zero got too out of hand. The only other thing to have been lost at the end of the battle against Zero were Zak and Angel's own Number ace cards: Number 13: Darkshine Dragon and Number 88: Goddess of Light. With all Numbers having been returned to Astral – their power simply could not exist and, as such, they'd faded into Blank Cards.

Zak and Angel still kept those Blank Cards in their Extra Decks though. They were important and, deep down, each hoped that, one day, maybe their monsters would return to them. Since their victory Zak and Angel had been more or less inseparable. That tends to happen to people considering all that had befallen them. Losing souls, being trapped in alternate timestreams, kidnapped by duel ghosts. Each wore a special pendant that matched the other for this reason. A pair of Yin and Yang pendants – each inlaid with half the Baria Light gem they'd used throughout their adventures. Zak with Yin; Angel with Yang.

As for their decks – Angel's was her ever favourite Agent deck; now fitted with new Xyz and a rare Synchro play. She'd played it since before she'd even met Zak. As for Zak himself? His original deck had been lost during an earlier adventure and, during the battle against Number Zero, he'd played a deadly execution deck focusing on Skill Drain. However, like his Darkshine Dragon, that deck had faded away. That had left him jumping from deck to deck to fill the void left by both his favourite card and original deck. It seemed now that the Bujin archetype could do just that.

But tonight was a reminder. Not a sad reminder, no; a happy one. Tonight commemorated one year since they'd met. One year since the hooded Number Hunter had met the energetic girl in a tank top (and taken her Numbers from her). Tonight was their anniversary and they intended to celebrate it and enjoy it as best as possible. Though that had meant Zak wearing a suit he felt was a just a tad too uncomfortable - even despite Angel saying it showed him off nicely. Angel herself wore a long silver backless dress which took Zak's breath away.

Their destination was one in the middle of Heartland City; a restaurant recommended to them by Tori, or "Yuma's girlfriend," as Zak liked to call her. The abundance of colour and lights, especially in the evening, never ceased to amaze the duo as they calmly strolled to their destination. They had all the time in the world and they were going to enjoy it. Every moment of it. Zak smiled as Angel would pipe up excitedly now and again while pointing to another amazing display covering the buildings and attractions that dotted the city. Their city had nearly fully recovered since the Barian Invasion as Dr Faker, the current mayor, had done everything in his power to ensure its recovery. Heartland was truly a world of smiles.

The duo finally found their way to the restaurant, found a table for two and, after their orders had been taken, for once, had no idea what to say to each other. There were so many topics to talk about and so many memories to tell – but where were either of them to begin? Not that it mattered actually – for they were abruptly made aware of the presence of another standing over their table. Zak was shocked and a little annoyed to see who it was half-glaring at him when he looked up. She sported a full head of curly ginger hair which reached her shoulders, freckles to match and violet eyes. Her standing a whole head less than Zak's height was made up for by a blatant in-your-face aura, folded arms and sealed tight lips.

"Uh, hey, Jordyn," He started awkwardly, addressing his ex-girlfriend, "What brings you here?"


	3. The Date

"Fancy meeting you here," Jordyn's voice returned, almost snappily, "I'm here on my own because I've had a bad day and I need it."

"Um, sorry to hear that," Zak began to reply, "Oh, this is Angel…"

"Nice to meet you. Aww, you look lovely."

"Thank you," Angel replied, sensing the awkwardness, "You look nice too."

"So, are you two going to the Second World Duel Carnival? I know you're a duelist, Zak. Do you duel, um, Angel?"

"Mhm, I do. Zak and I have been thinking about it but we're not sure yet. Kind of just want to enjoy tonight first."

"So this is a date," Jordyn said, ignoring the subtleness, "There's going to be a lot of strong duelists there so it probably won't matter if you go or not. I'm going though. And I'm going to go order now. Bye Zak. Nice meeting you, Angel."

With that the proud yet short girl turned heel and left the duo's table in silence. Not even Zero seemed to have something to remark about who they'd just met. Eventually Angel broke the silence.

"You told me about her once, I think," She said almost sympathetically, "I can see why you broke up with her."

"Yeah, well, she always had to be right," Zak replied, "Anyway, let's not worry about her. Since when were we going to enter the second WDC?"

"Since you finally chose a deck. It'll be a great test, sweetie! It's in like two weeks so you've got time to practice more too."

"We're really entering just because I chose a deck?"

"Okay… I want to beat her too. I don't like her."

"You literally just met her."

"Yeah so? I don't like her. You can't complain anyway. Does she even know that we saved the world from Number Zero?"

"I don't understand girls even though I've been dating you for so long. Oh and please don't tell her. If that happens we'll both receive a speech on how she 'wasn't possessed by the Barian Numbers because she's so strong willed.' I've had quite enough of those speeches."

Angel started quietly laughing at Zak's last comment before he soon joined in. Their food soon arrived and they stuck right in. You'd get really hungry too if you duelled your significant other five times over at dusk. Before long Angel piped up once more.

"Oh!" She started in between mouthfuls, "Was Zero a problem at all today when we duelled?"

Zak hadn't even thought about his soul's "roommate" since finally beating Angel. He knew not to lie to Angel about Zero of course. Though that rather extended to knowing not to lie to Angel about anything. The duo could read each other like a book.

"Usual off the cuff remarks and insults to my skill as a duelist," Zak answered calmly, "Nothing new."

As if it'd been summoned by its name itself – Zero's voice once again sounded in Zak's mind.

"Who was that girl?" It sounded. Zak frowned. Zero wasn't one to take interest in others.

"He… literally just asked who Jordyn was," Zak's frown continued to Angel.

"Wait, what? Why?" Angel asked in some confusion.

"There is something wrong with her." Zero's voice warned.

Zak's mental voice replied to the dark Number, "Yeah I know, I dated her for like 2 months."

However Zero stayed silent. Zak was nothing short of curious at this action. Zero didn't care about others. It didn't care about Zak when it possessed him and nor did it care about Angel when it attacked her while possessing Zak. So why would it suddenly comment on a complete stranger? Zak informed Angel of what Zero had told him.

"That's weird, I think. Why should it care?" Angel asked, but Zak just shrugged, "Hey you remember the, what was it… Third time?"

Zak raised an eyebrow. To think they were going to reminisce about the times he'd been possessed on their anniversary. Oddly, though, he couldn't complain. Call it a dark desire for thrill; but Zak somewhat enjoyed the stories of him being possessed despite downright hating being possessed altogether.

"Well, no, I personally don't remember… But you said you had to call Kite or Yuma in, right?" Zak responded.

"Kite. I could tell he was rather anxious to face you again, Zakky, especially after everything," Angel admitted, "Though you, er, Zero, using Evilswarm Ophion to lock out his Galaxy-Eyes made things interesting."

"Oh, that was Evilswarm! I thought it was Machina Gadgets that time. Wait, how'd he win then?"

"Hmm, what'd he do…? Oh yeah! You know Photon Satellite? That Level 1 that merges levels? Used it on Photon Thrasher or Crusher, I forget. A level 4 though. Made a Rank 5, which I'm sure was Tiras, and just beat over Ophion from there."

"Sounds about right. Thinking outside the box always was his thing."

Then Zak grinned, "And you had to call him because Zero beat you, right?"

"Oh ha ha! How was I supposed to summon Ancient Sacred Wyvern or Master Hyperion when it's too busy shielding that damn Ophion with like 5 set cards? Pretty glad you dropped that deck to be quite honest, sweetie."

"Agreed. Can't say it suited me more than it suited our 'dear' friend."

The night soon carried on from conversations about the other decks Zak had trialled both before and after his adventures with Angel to decks she'd played and cards she wanted to play. Eventually the duo finally decided on entering the Second World Duel Carnival in two weeks. Of course practice was most certainly going to be taken into account - as well as a few deck ideas Zak had thought of since his victory. He liked the deck but he wanted more. He wanted speed and aggression and he'd figured out the perfect techs to add to the deck in order for it to work.

They slept in that morning, a deep peaceful sleep at that. But that peace was all but gone when they awoke. Know why it disappeared as fast as it did? Excitement! Excitement that screamed for deck building, fantastic practice and new ideas and strategies all to be crammed into the 2 weeks before the Second World Duel Carnival. Zak's new strategy was all about abusing the key cards in the Bujin Archetype to ensure a faster and more aggressive victory. Angel too had her fair share of things to test to build up her Agent deck. More ways to deal with what they expected to face and extra consistency to keep the deck running.

"Terraforming!" Zak exclaimed loudly over breakfast, "Do we have those? May need 3. Definitely 2."

"We have a few from that structure deck tournament you won a couple months ago I think," Angel replied, "I borrowed them for my deck a while back but will probably drop them in favour of that new Tuner Agent, um, Uranus."

"Not a problem. What about Summoner Monk? Speeds up Xyz and Yamato. We have Uranus too, don't we?"

"Pretty sure we do, sweetie. We have Monks somewhere too," Angel gestured to their large table in the living room, covered in binders and small boxes filled with the various cards they'd collected in their travels and adventures, "Anything else?"

"Yeah one last thing," Zak winked, "Doing anything after breakfast?"

"Oh I was going to lie about on the couch and watch TV for a few hours…" Angel responded sarcastically.

"Can't miss your soap operas, can you?" Zak joined in, "Well it's either that or you lose to me again."

"Oh where's this confidence coming from, Zakky?" Angel asked, clearly interested in the challenge, "Pretty sure your win loss ratio to me is basically negative."

"New idea for the deck. You're going to love it as much as I reckon I'm going to love it!"

"And what might that be?"

"It might definitely be a surprise. Give me a bit to rebuild the deck."

"Whoa whoa whoa, who said I agreed to this?"

Zak strolled up to Angel and pulled her close to him, gazing deeply into her eyes as he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. The softness of her lips was something he would never ever forget. Angel, in turn, melted into the kiss and wrapped her arms around her boyfriend. After a few long moments Zak pulled away and tried his best to pull the puppy-dog eyes look.

"Are you really going to deny such a challenge from your wonderful boyfriend?" He asked in what could only be described as a puppy-dog-eyes-kind-of-voice.

Angel rolled her eyes and grinned, "I'm only accepting because I need to restore my win streak against you."

It took Zak and Angel about an hour to properly reconstruct their decks fit for their next test against each other. Zak was pumped to abuse his new surprise weapon now ready within his deck. Though, of course, there was no input from Zero. Despite the dark Number's tendency to ridicule Zak's skill and decks – it never did anything to help fix them… aside from take over.

"Ready to get wrecked by my new Tuner and Synchros, sweetie?" Angel asked coyly as the duo walked to their positions at each end of the duel field.

"Let's see if you even get the chance to bring them out," Zak responded calmly.

[Angel: 4000]

[Zak: 4000]


End file.
